b. 7 January 1908, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 17 April 1967, New York City, New York, USA. Allen was one of the outstanding jazz trumpeters. His career found him vacillating between New Orleans traditionalism, big band jazz, and an early kind of…

Trumpeter/vocalist Louis Armstrong is perhaps the single most influential artist in the history of jazz. He started out in the "hot" bands of 1920s New Orleans, and was one of the first to introduce solo improvisation into the jazz idiom. Over the ne…

As the poster boy for cool jazz in the '50s, trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker symbolized, at least briefly, that decade's soulful underside. But rather than ascend the throne of celebrity, he remained the outsider, the quintessential beautiful loser…

The trumpet of progressive jazz musician Lester Bowie was a window into the soul of a man with a bright sense of humor and the heart of a wandering romantic. Playing from both his heart and his head, he'd let the tune call the shots. Working solo or …

b. Reuben Braff, 16 March 1927, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, d. 9 February 2003, North Chatham, Massachusetts, USA. Although Braff did not make a notable impact on the jazz scene until the mid-50s, he was already an accomplished and experienced cornet…

Although he died in a car accident at the tender age of 25, Clifford Brown was a major link in the evolution of the trumpet. He possessed dazzling technique, a beautiful tone, and creativity to match. Moreover, in addition to a handful of brilliant r…

b. 18 November 1936, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, d. 19 October 1995, Alhaurín El Grande, Málaga, Spain. Cherry began playing trumpet while still attending high school in Los Angeles, where he was raised. He also played piano and some of his first p…

Trumpet flugelhorn bandleader Canadian trumpeter and bandleader part of their current crop of hard bop swing and big band players gaining some attention in America His big band made two recordings featuring guest star Pepper Adams in late 80s Ron Wy…

Few musicians have managed to change the course of music--trumpeter Miles Davis did it several times. An early disciple of Charlie Parker, Davis created an austere, understated approach that became the model for cool. His superb albums in the 1950s m…

b. Jonathan Faddis, 24 July 1953, Oakland, California, USA. Faddis began playing trumpet while still a small child and at the age of 11 was introduced by his trumpet teacher, Bill Catalano, to the music of Dizzy Gillespie. At 13 years old Faddis was …

Trumpeter Maynard Ferguson is best known as the ultimate "screaming" trumpeter; blasting away in the upper register of his horn with the intensity of a full-force gale. He came to the US from Canada in the early '50s to join Stan Kenton's Orchestra, …

If Charlie Parker was the chief architect of the bop revolution of the 1940s, Dizzy Gillespie was its standard-bearer, an evangelist who battled public hostility and incomprehension with rapier wit. A trumpeter of dazzling virtuosity, he matched Park…

b. Robert Leo Hackett, 31 January 1915, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, d. 7 June 1976, Chatham, Massachusetts, USA. After learning to play a number of instruments while still at school, including cornet and guitar, Hackett became a professional music…

b. 25 October 1942, Tokyo, Japan. Following, more or less literally, in the footsteps of his trumpet-playing, tap-dancing father, Hino learned to tap at the age of four, and took up the trumpet when he was nine years old. He taught himself the princi…

b. Alois Maxwell Hart, 7 November 1922, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 27 April 1999, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. After studying classical music at the Cincinnati Conservatory in the early 40s, trumpeter Hirt divided his professional career between…

Freddie Hubbard has always been a trumpet player of great facility, suppleness, and polish. Following his breakthrough with the Jazz Messengers in the late '50s, his burnished tone became a focal point of innumerable Blue Note albums of the '60s, bot…

b. Thaddeus Joseph Jones, 28 March 1923, Pontiac, Michigan, USA, d. 20 August 1986, Copenhagen, Denmark. A self-taught trumpet player, Jones began playing with a band led by his older brother, Hank Jones, in his early teens. He developed his techniqu…

Booker Little's contributions to jazz fall far short of what they might have been if he had lived past the age of 23. However, his recordings present a deeply talented trumpet player, possessing a warm, bell-like tone and a highly developed melodic s…

b. 1949, Lee's Summit, Missouri, USA. Metheny began playing trumpet at an early age, studying music formally at the University of Missouri/Columbia and Northeast Missouri State University. During military service in the early 70s, he played trumpet i…

b. Richard Allen Mitchell, 13 March 1930, Miami, Florida, USA, d. 21 May 1979, Los Angeles, California, USA. Mitchell's early professional career found him playing trumpet in a number of R&B bands, including that led in the mid-50s by Earl Bostic. La…

b. 20 August 1939, Trieste, Italy. Rava's mother was a classical pianist, but he began on trombone in bands playing New Orleans jazz and then graduated to trumpet. He studied with Carmine Caruso in New York and joined Gato Barbieri's quintet in 1964.…

b. Carl Hilding Severinsen, 7 July 1927, Arlington, Oregon, USA. After playing trumpet in several name bands during the late years of the swing era (including the Charlie Barnet, Tommy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman bands). Severinsen began a long career …

b. 30 November 1931, Jacksonville, Florida, USA. After studying trumpet as a child, Sheldon played professionally while still in his early teens. In the late 40s, now relocated in the Los Angeles area, he played with many leading west coast musicians…

b. Lewis Michael Soloff, 20 January 1944, New York City, New York, USA. After studying piano, trumpet and music theory at several colleges of music, Soloff played jazz trumpet with several leaders, notably Maynard Ferguson and Gil Evans and the Latin…

b. Rex William Stewart Jnr., 22 February 1907, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 7 September 1967, Los Angeles, California, USA. Stewart began playing cornet in his early teens, having previously tried several other instruments. By 1921 he was in N…

b. 14 December 1920, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Terry gained invaluable experience playing trumpet in local bands, but developed his remarkable technique while in the US Navy. As he recalled for jazz writer Steve Voce, he practised using a clarinet bo…

b. Joseph Benjamin Wilder, 22 February 1922, Colwyn, Pennsylvania, USA. After studying music in his home town, Wilder joined the trumpet section of the Les Hite band in his late teens. From Hite he graduated to the Lionel Hampton band and, before the…